Tag: My Gastric Bypass Diary

I know big deal I got a job outside the home – yeah so what we all have jobs right? Well while this is true for most this is a big deal for me and another new start in my journey after Gastric Bypass Surgery and I will tell you why.

Geez where to start…. So over 16 years ago I worked the normal 9-5 gig in the corporate world. I did what you should do with working hard, getting promoted and moving up in the company – I even had my own office. I was a call monitoring coach for a big sales company – yup I was the one listening in on those calls for quality assurance. I motivated a large sales force, did training and all the other crap that came along with that position. But honestly that corporate kiss ass stuff was never for me – I was never a fan of working – I just wanted to be a mom and stay at home.

So to make a long story short I got married to the love of my life after being engaged for 6 years and got prego with my son. I then quit that job and moved from where we were living in Florida after he was 3 months old and moved back up north to were I live now in Pennsylvania to be closer to family. My hubby worked and I got to be that stay at home mom I always wanted to be. A year and a half later I had my daughter.

Over the course of many years while the kids grew I had odd and end jobs to make extra cash from home – I use to sell a lot of crap on Ebay when it first started and was lucrative. I would sell anything not nailed down and make money – that is when Ebay was fun. But I loved being a stay at home mom even though I ripped my hair out a lot from the kids driving me nuts half the time I still would have not traded it for anything.

Being on one income was never easy, but some how hubby and I would find ways to make it work. Life is not always easy and we always find humor in everything and honestly I think that is what gets us by each and every time times are tough. Hubby and I seem to have lots of hoops we always seem to have to jump through, but we have come to get use to it. When we were married our song was the circus theme when they introduced us because that is our theme song to life. We just embrace it I guess.

So anyway… In about 2005 I decided to start my own business from home. I have always been a very creative person and loved to throw my kids awesome theme birthday parties that were unique and noticed a lack of options for parents out there. That is when The Party Animal was born. Even doing my business I took on other various part time jobs here and there over the years for extra cash like working at Curves locally, which helped me drop some weight back when, and also working with my sister at her retail store for a bit. In 2005 or so I started doing a lot of online writing and then created my Party Blog where I share lots of ideas to help parents when it comes to planning their kids parties.

While I absolutely love what I do and love working from home – it also has its down sides. You kinda lose your identity a bit from lack of being out there having one on one communications with people vs. online friends. You gain weight from sitting at a computer all day long. Being able to sit in your PJs all day long is not all it is cracked up to be. Oh and writers block happens quite a bit. As the saying goes – the grass is not always greener on the other side. I am however thankful that I have been able to earn a living and stay at home to raise my kids just as I had always wanted.

About 6 years ago my hubby had an accident at work which has caused him to become disabled and no longer able to work. It was the scariest time in my life to see him injured and our world changed. The accident effected his lungs and he was in and out of the hospital a lot and we had some very scary moments. Of course all of these events put me into a deep depression and caused me to gain a great deal of weight with all the worry and changes to our lives. He is currently stable, thank god, but he will never recover from this accident and we have a lot of ups and downs with his medical condition. He is unable to physically do the things he use to do which makes it very hard. On a happy note my hubby is one A-Mazing man and pushes himself each and every day – I do not think I could be as strong as him given what he has to deal with. I am one lucky lucky girl I tell ya.

So in January 2012 I made the decision as you all know to have Gastric Bypass Surgery. I needed to get this weight off I could not lose on my own after trying so many diets over the years. I not only needed to do it for myself, but for my hubby and the kids. I needed to get healthy myself.

So what does all of this have to do with me getting a job outside the home? Well I will tell ya… The surgery has given me a new lease on life and I feel more like me again after losing myself in raising my kids, my work at home job and being in the house all day long for so many years. I had never felt good enough in my skin to go out and apply for a job because I had no confidence anymore in myself and how I looked.

I have had an idea on what job I wanted and have been watching for the position to come up for years, but never ready to apply for it until just last month. I decided I feel great and my kids are now 15 and 12 and it was time I made the move to get out there – I was ready!! So I applied and to my surprise got a call the following week for an interview. The job is for an Activity Assistant at a local Nursing/Retirement Home. It is the perfect job for me – I get to do all the fun stuff with the residents and bring my creativity to those who need a little fun in their days. I have always wanted to volunteer, but now I will get paid to do it – BONUS. So I went on the interview and then got called in for another and offered the job.

The best part is that it starts out as a flexible part time position which means I will fill in at first when I am needed and that could not be any better for me as I ease my way back into the working world. This job for me is a perfect fit that I think will bring a lot of satisfaction – the thought that I can bring smiles and happiness to these people has my giddy and excited. I will not be in an office stuck with piles of paperwork, but instead I will get to do all the fun stuff like go on day trips, out to eat, play games (I Love BINGO) and come up with fun arts and crafts for them to do.

So with that said I am ready for a new chapter in my life and the Gastric Bypass Surgery is what has helped me get to this point of feeling good enough to put myself out there again. I am looking forward to the change and hoping I like this job as much as I think I will and have it lead to a full-time position down the road. I will still do my party business and online writing because I love doing that as well and would never give that up since I worked so hard to build it to where it is today.

I think the kids are a little sad that I got a job outside the home, but I think they will adjust and I bet they will end up enjoying the quiet time (lol). Now my hubby will officially be Mr. Mom and I know for a fact he will enjoy the time when I am at work too – ha ha.

My official start date is around July 22nd when I start the orientation process so I have time to chill a bit more and put my feet up on my patio table with my Cold Protein Coffee and watch my chickens – lol.

25 weeks since my Gastric Bypass Surgery – WoW. The time is really going by fast – I am just about at 6 months post op and I cannot believe it.

Unfortunately I did not write in my food journal this past week – yup this is week #3 of my summer hiatus, but not to worry I am back on track so my food journal will be back starting week 26. Again I have so much going on between the kids being home for summer and construction projects in my house that I have slacked off – I know shame on me.

My eating is still about the same although I am probably not eating enough or getting in all my protein like I should either because I am not writing it down. I always try to choose food high in protein as much as possible, but I really should be tossing in a protein shake daily which I have not. I have also missed some of my vitamins in there as well, especially my Calcium and that is not good. I have to re-focus and get back on top of those things pronto !!

On a happy note my weight loss has gone into full gear and it is coming off like crazy. I started with such a slow weight loss and now every time I step on that scale I am shocked by the numbers. As of this morning I am down to 218 lbs – Holy Shit – that is just crazy. I am less than 20 pounds from ONEderland (199 lbs). Ya know when my weight loss started to really kick in? When the nice weather started along with my yard work. So all that talk about adding in the “E” word (exercise) that I hate so much really did make the difference.

I live on an acre of property and have lots of flower beds to care for and I just love being outside when the nice weather hits sitting on my patio or being in the pool. It is much different than the winter months of sitting at my desk working all day – which as a matter of fact I have been kinda on hiatus from that as well. My main business website is also in the process of a complete makeover as well – so everything is under construction – ahhhhh.

This week is gonna be pretty crazy. My daughter’s birthday is Saturday and I am having her friends all sleepover in the midst of a huge construction project starting Thursday where a wall is being moved between my son and daughter’s room. Soooo my upstairs will be off limits and I have to have the girls all camp out in the living room I think. That is ok it will work – yikes, I hope. Then the following week we are having a new office space built and that coming weekend my BFF is coming to stay for the weekend from NY who I have not seen in a few years. Then the following weekend my Brother, Sister in law and Nephew are coming to stay. So busy busy busy is all I can say.

Here are some pics – That is my Hubby – aka DarthDan working on another long over do project of refinishing a staircase to our rec room. My Chicks are now happy in their new Chicken Coop for about the past week now. They are growing so fast and are probably just as spoiled as out other pets. Hopefully they will reward me with some eggs in the fall – I guess it is all depending if I have male or females, still not able to tell just yet.

So this coming week I am back to logging and trying to be good about taking all my vitamins and getting in more protein. OH did I mention I think I have a sinus infection? Yesterday I had a down day of laying in bed for most of it with a major sinus headache. Today I feel a little better, but I can still feel the pressure in my head from all the boogies. Lets hope that goes away quick since I have a very busy few week ahead of me.

I will work on getting up more pictures and you can check out My Weigh In Page to watch my progress. I still have so many posts I want to get up so I will work on that too.